Now On Kickstarter: Cryoscope Lets You Feel the Weather

[Credit: Rodd Godshaw]Back in February, we covered a nifty little device that let you feel the temperature outside instead of displaying a numerical temperature readout. The cube, built on an Arduino microcontroller that connects to the Internet to get the temperature was pretty much a proof of concept at the time. Now, we're getting word that Robb Godshaw, the man behind the project, has taken to Kickstarter to make the Cryoscope weather cube a reality.

The mass-produced Cryosphere works just like the prototype: It lets you feel tomorrow’s air temperature through your skin. Instead of guessing if you need a jacket or not based on a weather report, you can feel just how warm 56-degree Fahrenheit is.

Godshaw also says that you can use it to broadcast the current temperature of anywhere in the world or even the coldness of outer space. Besides being neat for exploring what the temperature it is in Belgian or Hanoi, it could be useful if your planning on traveling so you know what kind of clothes to bring.

Since we last saw the Cryosphere, Robb redesigned its original cube shape into a more crystalline form that looks like something out of Tron. The 5-cubic-inch device has a metal contact surface, a thermoelectric element that can heat up and cool down, a heat sink, and a circulating fan. The contact surface can replicate temperatures between 32 and 108 degrees Fahrenheit (0 and 42 degrees Celsius).

[Credit: Rodd Godshaw]

The project currently sits at $6699 of its $80,000 goal with 20 days to go, but there's still hope for this tactile weather vane. Project backers who pledge more than $300 will receive a Cryoscope with an aluminum top of their own. If you pledge $400, you'll get one with a bronze cover; a $4500 pledge gets you a silver one. (Why so expensive? We're guessing it's because of all the custom molded surfaces.)

We really hope that Robb manages to get this his project funded. It's going to be something to be able to actually feel the temperature instead of just seeing how warm it is outside.

Note: Don’t ignore the weatherman completely; they’re still good for important flood and (often hyperbolic and non-existent) blizzard warnings.